Paths of Glory eBook

The trees thereabout had been mowed down by the French
artillery from within the city, so that the highway
was littered with their tops. Also, the explosives
had dug big gouges in the earth. Wherever you
looked you saw that the soil was full of small, raggedy
craters. Shrapnel was dropping intermittently
in the vicinity; therefore we left our cars behind
the shelter of the ancient fort and proceeded cautiously
afoot until we reached the frontmost trenches.

Evidently the Germans counted on staying there a good
while. The men had dug out caves in the walls
of the trenches, bedding them with straw and fitting
them with doors taken from the wreckage of the houses
of the village. We inspected one of these shelters.
It had earthen walls and a sod roof, fairly water-tight,
and a green window shutter to rest against the entrance
for a windbreak. Six men slept here, and the
wag of the squad had taken chalk and lettered the
words “Kaiserhof Cafe” on the shutter.

The trenches were from seven to eight feet deep; but
by climbing up into the little scarps of the sharpshooters
and resting our elbows in niches in the earth, meantime
keeping our heads down to escape the attentions of
certain Frenchmen who were reported to be in a wood
half a mile away, we could, with the aid of our glasses,
make out the buildings in Rheims, some of which were
then on fire—­particularly the great Cathedral.

Viewed from that distance it did not appear to be
badly damaged. One of the towers had apparently
been shorn away and the roof of the nave was burned—­we
could tell that. We were too far away of course
to judge of the injury to the carvings and to the
great rose window.

Already during that week, from many sources, we had
heard the Germans’ version of the shelling of
Rheims Cathedral, their claim being that they purposely
spared the pile from the bombardment until they found
the defenders had signal men in the towers; that twice
they sent officers, under flags of truce, to urge
the French to withdraw their signalers; and only fired
on the building when both these warnings had been
disregarded, ceasing to fire as soon as they had driven
the enemy from the towers.

I do not vouch for this story; but we heard it very
frequently. Now, from one of the young officers
who had escorted us into the trench, we were hearing
it all over again, with elaborations, when a shrapnel
shell from the town dropped and burst not far behind
us, and rifle bullets began to plump into the earthen
bank a little to the right of us; so we promptly went
away from there.

We were noncombatants and nowise concerned in the
existing controversy; but we remembered the plaintive
words of the Chinese Minister at Brussels when he
called on our Minister—­Brand Whitlock—­to
ascertain what Whitlock would advise doing in case
the advancing Germans fired on the city. Whitlock
suggested to his Oriental brother that he retire to
his official residence and hoist the flag of his country
over it, thereby making it neutral and protected territory.